These are the slides for my presentation at the Biola Digital Ministry Conference on web usability. I first discuss why usability matters (both the practical case and the biblical case -- which is rarely seen but is very interesting). Then I discuss the nuts and bolts of how to create a usable website, focusing especially on how to create good information architecture.

1. Text
Practical Usability: Why So Many Websites Frustrate
Their Users and How to Make Your Site Enjoyable
Matt Perman
@mattperman facebook.com/mattperman
www.whatsbestnext.com

2. My aim: I want to give you better reasons to care about
usability, show you that you need to give it close
attention, and show you how to make your site usable
without having to spend a ton of money.

3. Why Does Usability Matter?

4. The Practical Case

6. 1. People will leave your site or be frustrated with your
site if it is not easy to use.

7. 2. If your site isn’t usable, it diminishes your brand and
the effectiveness of your content and site in general.

8. 3. Making your site usable increases its effectiveness

9. When we released the major redesign of the Desiring
God site to improve usability, within four months visits
increased 99%, page views increased 356%, and audio
listens increased 359%.

10. You do need to make an emotional connection with
users, but this does not come by sacrificing usability.

13. That’s the practical case. But there are also biblical
reasons--which are fascinating and super important.

14. The Biblical Case

15. 1. Making your site easy to use is a matter of loving
your neighbor as yourself.

16. We should love our neighbor as ourselves
“You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
Matthew 22:39
“So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do
also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.”
Matthew 7:12

17. This is how Christians are
“There is another that has made you, and preserves
you, and provides for you, and on whom you are
dependent: and He has made you for himself, and for
the good of your fellow--creatures, not only for
yourself. He has placed before you higher and nobler
ends than self, even the welfare of your fellow-men,
and of society, and the interests of his kingdom; and
for these you ought to labor and live, not only in
time, but in eternity.”
Jonathan Edwards

18. This is how Christians are
“Do all the good you can, to all the people you can, at
all the times you can, as long as you ever can.”
John Wesley

19. Any objections?

20. This applies to all areas of life--not just at church!

22. Paul was not loving to the churches he planted but a
jerk when he was making tents.
And his tents didn’t leak.

23. “Let all that you do be done in love.”
1 Corinthians 16:14

24. “See that no one repays anyone evil for evil, but always
seek to do good to one another and to all men.”
1 Thessalonians 5:14

25. We are to see all our work as a service to others, and
do it from that motive.

26. Which means it applies to your websites

27. Which means it applies to your websites
And the chief application here (though not the only) is
that you should make your site usable.

28. This is about being loving people in how we build our
websites.

29. “A charitable person, whose heart
disposes him to bounty and liberality,
will be quick-sighted to discern the
needs of others.”
Jonathan Edwards

30. “Let us be on the watch for opportunities of
usefulness; let us go about the world with our ears
and our eyes open, ready to avail ourselves of every
occasion for doing good; let us not be content till we
are useful, but make this the main design and
ambition of our lives.”
Charles Spurgeon

31. We are to take pains to make our sites
usable

32. 2. (This is exciting!)

33. This is steak, not broccoli.

34. “He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does
the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love
mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?”
Micah 6:8

35. We are to be fanatical about serving others
“...who gave himself for us to redeem us from all
lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his
own possession who are zealous for good works.”
Titus 2:14

36. The Christian ethic is hazardous liberality.

37. Maslow revised his hierarchy of needs later in life. The
highest purpose was living for a purpose greater than
yourself.

38. Don’t be the pink slime of websites!

39. Christians should be leaders and at the forefront of
excellence and using technology for the good of others
because, more than anyone else, we exist for the good
of others.

40. 3. A usable site in itself advances the gospel, in addition
to your message itself, because it testifies to the fact
that we (and God!) love people

41. “Walk as children of light (for the fruit of light is found
in all that is good and right and true), and try to discern
what is pleasing to the Lord. Take no part in the
unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them.
For it is shameful even to speak of the things they do in
secret. But when anything is exposed by the light, it
becomes visible, for anything that becomes visible is
light. Therefore it says, ‘Awake, O sleeper, and rise from
the dead, and Christ will shine on you.’” Ephesians 5:8-
14

42. This is God’s plan for how the gospel changes the
world. Not just through proclamation, though that is
essential. But also through the supporting testimony of
our behavior as Christians. The shining of our light.

43. And...

44. Don’t be boring!
“Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use
of the time. Let your speech always be gracious,
seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you
ought to answer each person.”
Colossians 4:5-6

45. Don’t be boring!
“Somehow or other, and with the best of intentions,
we have shown the world the typical Christian in the
likeness of a crashing and rather ill-natured bore—
and this in the Name of One who assuredly never
bored a soul in those thirty-three years during which
He passed through this world like a flame.”
-- Dorothy Sayers

46. The Priority of Usability

47. The Priority of Usability
1. Usability should be prioritized above looks

48. The Priority of Usability
1. Usability should be prioritized above looks
2. Usability should be prioritized above cool
functionality

49. How to Make Your Site Usable

50. The Core Principle
You just need to know one thing.
You just need to come out of this presentation
understanding
One Thing

51. And it’s this:
Don’t make
people think!

52. Am I being anti-intellectual?

53. You want people to think hard about your content,
not about how to use your site.

54. Examples of bad usability
(That is, things that make people think
and get in their way--and why)

55. Bad Usability

56. Bad Usability

57. Good Usability

58. Good Usability that You Can Do

59. Good Usability Manifests Itself in 5 Main Principles

60. The First Principle: Orientation
1. Provide good orientation

61. Nobody likes to be
lost.

62. You provide good orientation through 3 main things
1. Site ID and descriptive tagline

64. (Note: A tagline is not a motto)

65. (Note: A tagline is not a motto)
Bad: “We bring good thing to life”
????
Good: “God-centered resources from the ministry of
John Piper.”

66. You provide good orientation through 3 main things
2. Global navigation

68. You provide good orientation through 3 main things
3. Local navigation

70. But Target gets confusing:

72. The navigation must be well organized, on the basis of
sound principles of classification

73. The Second Principle: Categorization
2. Know how to categorize well

74. Sound Principles of Classification
1. Organizing schemes should be consistent. For example, topics should not be mixed with resource
categories in the same grouping.
2. Categories should be mutually exclusive. Cross-listing should be kept to an absolute minimum.
3. Categories should be comprehensive--no gaps.
4. Categories should anticipate future content. If topical, for example, try to anticipate the topics not yet
covered.
5. Groups of similar choices should be limited to 5-9 items when possible; people can’t keep more in
their mind for evaluation. If tons of links needed, cluster them in groups of 5-9 links.
6. There should be no redundancy in the labels, sections, and categories.
7. There should be multiple ways of finding things (without creating redundant labels, sections, and
categories).

75. What doesn’t fit?
Sanctification
Marriage
Easter Sermons
Romans
The Trinity
The End Times
Culture

76. A Better Organization:
By Topic
Sanctification
Marriage
The Trinity
The End Times
Culture
By Text
Romans
By Occasion
Easter Sermons

77. The Third Principle: Labels
3. Make labels clear and consistent, not cute and clever

78. The Fourth Principle: Links
4. Make obvious what’s clickable

79. The Fifth Principle: Page Names
5. Give every page a name, and make the name match
what the user clicked to get there

80. (And don’t use the breadcrumbs to double as the page
name)

81. Why do so many websites frustrate their users?

82. Why do so many websites frustrate their users?
They ignore these principles

83. How do you do this on a budget?
1. Educate yourself. Read 3 books, take notes, review
the notes.
2. Do simple user testing.
3. Keep it simple: focus on the 5 main principles. If you
can only do one thing, create good navigation.
4. By doing this internally, you are going to have to
substitute hard work for money.
5. I have documents I can send you.

84. Summary
One overarching governing principle for all of life: “Do unto others as you would
have them do unto you.”
One guiding principle for usability: Don’t make people think.
Five primary guidelines:
Orienting: Provide good orientation through a clear site ID, global navigation,
and local navigation
Categorizing: Make categories follow a consistent scheme, be mutually
exclusive, be comprehensive for your content, and anticipate future content
Labeling: Make labels clear and consistent, not cute and clever
Linking: Make obvious what’s clickable
Naming: Give every page a name, and make the name match what the user
clicked to get there

85. The Most Important?
One overarching governing principle for all of life: “Do unto others as you would
have them do unto you.”
One guiding principle for usability: Don’t make people think.
Five primary guidelines:
Orienting: Provide good orientation through a clear site ID, global navigation,
and local navigation
Categorizing: Make categories follow a consistent scheme, be mutually
exclusive, be comprehensive for your content, and anticipate future content
Labeling: Make labels clear and consistent, not cute and clever
Linking: Make obvious what’s clickable
Naming: Give every page a name, and make the name match what the user
clicked to get there

86. Questions

87. Resources
1. Don’t Make Me Think, Steve Krug
2. The Unusually Useful Web Book, June Cohen
3. Web Redesign 2.0, Kelly Goto